With homicides rising for a third straight year, a City-County Council task force is recommending $29 million in tax hikes to increase the Indianapolis police force by nearly 300 officers.The IMPD Staffing Study Commission proposal would add 286 officers to the force by 2020 at an annual cost of about $100 in new taxes for most Marion County residents. The new revenue would increase the department's ranks to 1,813 officers, the most it's ever had.

"People don't feel safe in our community right now. The No. 1 priority should be put on hiring police officers," said Democratic Councilwoman Mary Moriarty Adams, chairwoman of the commission.

Half the new revenues would be provided by eliminating a homeowner tax break — a move originally proposed by Republican Mayor Greg Ballard that Democrats on the council have rejected three times.

The difference this time, said council chief financial officer Bart Brown, is that the homestead tax credit would be phased out over four years. Brown said a property owner with a $100,000 home ultimately would pay an extra $30 a year.

An additional $15 million a year would be generated by slightly increasing the income taxes dedicated to public safety. A resident making $50,000 a year would pay about $75 more a year.

Democratic Councilman John Barth said it was imperative that the council address the IMPD staffing shortage now, before the number of police officers and agency morale dip too low to be repaired. His constituents, he said, have indicated they'd be willing to pay for adequate police coverage. But the question going forward is: How much?

"No matter what, it is going to be hard when we talk about revenue enhancement (tax increases)," Barth said. "The next step is to stand up and say, 'We are willing to make the hard decisions.'"

The plan is intended as a blueprint for budget negotiations this summer, he said.

"Our hope is that this is a pathway to get more police in the 2015 budget and beyond," Barth said.

Ballard's spokesman, Marc Lotter, said the mayor would tend to agree with the general outline of the plan because "he has been asking for the homestead exemption removal for three years."

He said Ballard "will give this serious confederation" when drawing up his budget.

But Democratic Council President Maggie Lewis said she is still fundamentally opposed to the elimination of the homestead credit, even with the phaseout.

"I know they were looking at some tax options, but I am not there yet," Lewis said. "I haven't changed my view."

The 10-member police staffing commission was made up of City-Council Council members, residents, representatives of the mayor, the Fraternal Order of Police and the Marion County Sheriff's Office.

Deputy Public Safety Director Valerie Cunningham said the additional officers would improve morale and efficiency, reduce overtime costs, allow more community policing and increase tax revenues through more traffic enforcement.

"Because we are short-staffed, many officers go from run to run and and don't have time for anything else," she said.

The proposal would increase the number of officers to 1,797 by 2018, which would be the highest council-authorized level ever. There are 1,527 police on the force now.

One hundred officers a year would be hired from 2015 to 2018, and 50 would be hired in 2019 and 2020, in addition to the 80 recruits being trained now.

At the same time, the department expects to lose 42 officers a year to retirements and resignations through 2020.

The proposal comes while homicides surge in the city. With 50 criminal homicides this year, Indianapolis is on pace to record 150 for the year, well above last year's 125 criminal homicides, which was the most in seven years.

The commission also proposed that IMPD use savings from attrition to hire about 50 officers a year.

Call Star reporter John Tuohy at (317) 444-6418. Follow him on Twitter: @john_tuohy.